It has become increasingly desirable for heat exchangers to exhibit efficient transfer of heat, while remaining relatively easy to make. In the automotive industry, in particular, it has become increasingly necessary to combine multiple functions in a single heat exchanger assembly. In particular, the need to reduce the number of overall components, and to optimize assembly efficiency has driven the need for improved heat exchanger devices that combine increasingly efficient designs and multiple functions in packaging heretofore attainable using plural separate components or devices having inefficient designs. More specifically, there has been a growing need for an improved heat exchanger device, particularly for under the hood automotive vehicle applications, which combines multiple functions, that is efficient to make and operate and that occupies substantially the same or less space than existing heat exchanger devices.
Particularly in extreme operating conditions and where a multi-fluid heat exchanger is to be employed, it is also attractive to be able to selectively manage heat exchange between the different fluids, especially when the different fluids passed through the heat exchanger have substantially different flow characteristics.
In the automotive industry, there has existed for some time, the need to provide multiple advantages at reduced service and other operating costs. There has also been a need for heater exchange configurations and systems where by not only cross-flow but also down flow configurations are both possible and feasible. Additionally, although so called combo coolers present advantages such as condenser to oil combinations to handle individual heat exchanges in a combined form, it may not meet certain vehicle needs. In automotive applications, fluids such as automotive fluids (oils, coolants, refrigerants, fuels, wind shield wiper fluids, brake fluids, air, CO2, exhaust gasses and the like) are often used. Placing additional fluids on a heat exchanger, preferably in a coplanar arrangement, fluids such as radiator coolant, transmission oil and power steering oil, and the like, surprisingly provides efficiencies and packaging advantages, as well as yielding combination cooler plus additional heat exchanger (‘tri-cooler’)(three fluid) or dual or multiple combination cooler (combo cooler plus additional fluid) features, which were unavailable even with combo cooler technologies. The present invention meets the above needs by providing an improved heat exchanger without the same packaging limitations as the condenser and oil cooler combinations by providing radiator packaging advantages; with fewer oil cooler line routing limitations; by providing reduced service costs for condenser-oil coolers, by allowing use of combination cooler type technology for non-air conditioned cars; and where down-flow configuration needs to be used.